need more headcanons for laila-nieeeeeee! <3
LAILA-NIE HEADCANONS LET'S GOOOO
it's a privilege for anyone to call her by her first name. of course, it's on file for her superiors and such, but if she can avoid telling people her first name, she does. she knows it leads to follow-up questions, ones she doesn't want to answer. besides, she's more a hero to the public eye than a human being most of the time anyway...
when garrus finally is given her first name he abuses the privilege to high heavens. she warns him to keep quiet about it, but can't make her threats anything more than empty. hearing her name coming from someone else's mouth feels,, right for once. maybe she'll even come to like it
she's a romantic deep down. not in the same hopeless way as perhaps kaidan or tali are, but she yearns for that constant, that stability, someone who lays their heart out when she does too. and they absolutely must be her friend first
her relationship with her mother is rocky. they're close and love each other, but there's just some things they will never be on the same page about. she won't avoid hannah per se, she just won't go out of her way to communicate if she knows her words will fall on deaf ears. (my sister likes to describe their relationship as a less exaggerated version of lorelai and emily from gilmore girls lol. and she's not wrong)
laila-nie, as much as she refuses to see it, takes after her mother. with how she deals with stress and grief especially (avoidance and busy-work)
her father is worse. if she can, she never speaks about him. if she didn't learn the unspoken mantra "shepards don't cry" from her mum, she would've from her dad. emotional suppression came with the territory 💔 her dad passed sometime prior to me2 from a brain bleed (re: an old head injury)
it was him that disapproved of her becoming an infiltrator - some prattle about the lack of honour in ranged weapons
she can't use any alliance issued contraception, or anything on the market. she's tried everything, but her body fights each one like it's an infection. her previous station doctors never seemed to update her medical file, so it's brought up with her. every single time. her mother had the same condition (which she theorised was how she happened to be conceived), so she just chooses to err on the side of caution/tough things out
on top of this, she has pms and WILL raid the mess hall's kitchen. do not get in her way 🤭
no surprise that for most of the trilogy garrus and tali are her no.1s <3 however kaidan played a massive part in her life and she adores him still, just perhaps not the same way she used to
she had a cheeky tattoo from her younger years but after her reconstruction in me2 it was gone. along with her missing scar, she wonders how much of *herself* still exists, if she can't see some of her mistakes there on her skin
she's v much a "friend to all but a friend to none" person. she gets to know everyone deeply. asks every question, helps them through things if she can. but it's rare for her to say anything of herself. she's known by everyone, just not truly known
she claims she's no politician but she's an adept diplomat (and took the honour of being tali's lawyer very seriously in me2 hehe)
loves her cabin pets, but notoriously terrible at looking after her fish. she tries, she really does
her favourite casual outfit is the n7 hoodie combo - she prioritises being cosy and appearing approachable above all else. (she'll change depending on whether she's Standing on Business or meeting with council members though)
